Locate Pelican Bay State Prison Inmates

Pelican Bay State Prison Overview

Pelican Bay State Prison is operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It opened on December 1, 1989, covers about 275 acres, and sits near Crescent City on California's far northern coast. CDCR describes the institution as a state prison built for maximum-security incarcerated people, with current housing that includes Level II, Level IV, Level I minimum support, medical, mental-health, restricted housing, and other specialized units.

Pelican Bay State Prison should not be treated as a Del Norte County jail. The people held there are sentenced California state prisoners under CDCR control. Some may have been committed from Del Norte County courts, but many were committed from other counties. A person who leaves Del Norte County Jail after a prison sentence may enter CDCR reception and classification, then be assigned to Pelican Bay State Prison or to another CDCR institution.

Pelican Bay State Prison Inmate Lookup

The correct search path for Pelican Bay State Prison is California Incarcerated Records and Information Search, known as CIRIS. CIRIS is CDCR's public locator for sentenced state prisoners. It can show name, CDCR number, age, current location, commitment county, admission date, release or parole details, and Board of Parole Hearings information when public. Citizen RIMS is not the correct search for Pelican Bay State Prison custody.

1. Open CDCR CIRIS and accept any displayed terms needed to search.
2. Search by CDCR number when known, or use first and last name for a name search.
3. Open the result and confirm the current location shows Pelican Bay State Prison.
4. Use the CDCR number before sending mail, arranging visits, sending money, or asking CDCR for assistance.

The image below comes from the official CDCR CIRIS inmate-search interface.

CIRIS is the statewide source because Pelican Bay State Prison is part of CDCR rather than the county jail system.

Pelican Bay State Prison Contact

Use the prison's main contact for institution-specific questions. For search help with a CDCR record, CDCR's contact page lists the Identification Unit at (916) 445-6713, Monday through Friday except holidays, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Facility staff and statewide CDCR units handle different tasks, so the CDCR number found in CIRIS is the best key before calling or writing.

The CDCR page also lists staff mail at P.O. Box 7000, Crescent City, CA 95531-7000. Staff mail is not the same as incarcerated-person mail. Mail to a prisoner should follow CDCR family-resource rules and should include the name and CDCR number verified in CIRIS.

Pelican Bay State Prison Custody Levels

Pelican Bay State Prison has a more complex housing structure than a county jail. CDCR identifies Facility A as a Level II Non-Designated Programming Facility in an open-cell or dorm-like setting, converted in January 2024. Facility B includes Level IV general population and Enhanced Outpatient Program housing. Facility C is closed and formerly served as the Security Housing Unit. Facility D is also Level II Non-Designated Programming Facility housing with an expanded exercise yard.

The prison also has a Correctional Treatment Center and infirmary with specialty medical services, Mental Health Crisis Beds, and inpatient medical patients. Restricted-housing status does not remove all programming access; CDCR says people in restricted housing continue to have access to rehabilitative, educational, and voluntary self-help services where allowed.

Pelican Bay State Prison Visits

Pelican Bay State Prison visits follow statewide CDCR visiting rules, not Del Norte County Jail visitor rules. CDCR prison visits require approval and scheduling under CDCR's visiting program. A visitor should confirm the incarcerated person's current CDCR location in CIRIS before applying, scheduling, or traveling, because transfers can move a person to another institution and the county jail cannot approve state-prison visits.

CDCR visiting rules change by institution conditions, public-health restrictions, staffing, custody status, and disciplinary status. Family and friends should treat the CDCR visiting page as the governing source and use Pelican Bay's main phone only after checking statewide instructions.

Pelican Bay State Prison Mail and Money

Mail and money for Pelican Bay State Prison are governed by CDCR statewide family-resource rules. The prison page provides the institutional mailing address, but CDCR resources control the broader rules for packages, phones, tablets, approved vendors, and deposits. Before sending funds, search CIRIS for the person's CDCR number and confirm that Pelican Bay State Prison is still the current location.

Unlike Del Norte County Jail's Access Corrections page, the PBSP research did not provide a single facility-specific fee schedule or vendor-price table. For that reason, the documented fee table is limited to CDCR's statewide send-money path and the known prison mailing address rather than invented dollar amounts.

Pelican Bay State Prison Programs

Pelican Bay State Prison intake is not street-arrest booking. People arrive in CDCR custody after sentencing, reception, transfer, or classification decisions. Once housed at PBSP, their program options depend on custody level, unit assignment, security status, medical or mental-health needs, and CDCR approval. Facility programs listed by CDCR include GED, high school diploma, college partnerships with College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt, college degree paths, vocational training, AA and NA, concerts, guest speakers, murals, gardens, worm farms, music bands, hobby craft, Prison Paws, Arts in Corrections, resilience courses, religious services, sports, and game tournaments.

CDCR also lists CALPIA laundry at Pelican Bay State Prison, with contracts involving PBSP and Del Norte School District. The Last Mile partnership supports computer coding, computer-related technology, and CAD training. DRP substance-abuse and pre-release programs include cognitive behavioral intervention, intensive outpatient, outpatient, and life-skills programming. These state-prison programs are separate from Del Norte County Jail's local social-service, faith-based, recreation, library, and work-release policies.

Pelican Bay State Prison vs Jail

Pelican Bay State Prison and Del Norte County Jail are both in Crescent City, but they answer different custody questions. Del Norte County Jail is searched through Citizen RIMS for recent arrests, local bookings, bail, release, and short local custody. Pelican Bay State Prison is searched through CIRIS for sentenced CDCR custody. A booking photo or arrest charge from the county jail does not prove a person is at Pelican Bay. A CIRIS current-location result is the state-prison check.